Resistance 3 Is Irresistible

On paper, Resistance 3 has all the hallmarks of a colossal flop – a sequel of a sequel with a “way-out-there” storyline that lacks a protagonist after our hero died at the end of the last game. Instead, I found it one of the best games I’ve played this year.

I had very low expectations for Resistance 3, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony for the PlayStation 3. I’ve played tons of first-person shooters this year and figured this game, which went on sale Tuesday, would fall somewhere in the middle of the pack. It’s not the best – that honor goes to Call of Duty: Black Ops – but Resistance 3 definitely runs a close second.

My misgivings appeared well-founded when I loaded up Resistance 3. One caveat is if you expect to dive right into the game, hold the horses. First thing my PS3 wanted to do was a system update, which took about five minutes and required a restart of the console. Then, when the game finally loaded, there was a comic book-like open. Knowing the game was set in the 1950’s, I actually preferred it to the faux, overly pretentious cinematic opens on so many games. Then, though, the PS3 wanted to install the game, which took another 10 minutes. Finally, I was off and running.

The plot, despite involving aliens, weird weapons and an alternate version of 1950’s U.S. history, is pretty straightforward. For those unfamiliar with the Resistance series, the Reader’s Digest version is the game takes place on an earth occupied by the Chimera, an alien race that infects and kills humans through a virus. In the original 2006 game that started this trilogy, Resistance: Fall of Man, Sergeant Nathan Hale didn’t die from the disease, but instead became part Chimera – tougher and stronger than the rest of us and with gold eyes. He tries, and fails, to stop the Chimera via military resistance in that game and the 2008 sequel. At the end of the game, Corporal Joseph Capelli shoots Sergeant Hale, but instead of getting court-martialed or keelhauled, he gets a dishonorable discharge and, three years later, his own game.

Capelli is the “hero” of Resistance 3, looking to link up with other human survivors and head to New York City for a big night on the town – in this case, what Insomniac Games describes as “one last desperate attempt to stop the extinction of the human race.” Supposedly, he can do that by hooking up with Dr. Fyodor Malikov, who found special blood in Nathan Hale’s dead body that could cure infected humans. But this game is really about killing lots of weird aliens with steampunk weapons that mostly look 1950-ish but with strangely advanced and futuristic Chimeran twists to them. More on that later.

Be prepared: Resistance 3 is very hard, even at the lowest setting. It may take you half the night to figure out how to take out the arachnid-like metal Stalker with your bullseye weapon and some shield-lowering electro-magnetic pulse grenades, and I won’t offer you any spoilers. But as you get the feel of the game, pay some attention to your surroundings. The game designers sure have. They’ve captured amazing amounts of detail, everything from 1950’s style milk cans in the kitchen, to grass and weeds poking up through the floorboards of abandoned buildings, shadows and even footfalls and breathing that don’t sound fake. Characters in Oklahoma are a bit over-the-top rustic, but maybe that’s just what Oklahomans are really like.

Developers were also smart to scale down the massive battlefields of the previous game. It was often hard to figure out who you were fighting and where. In this game, there’s a much tighter focus, which lets you get a bead on the aliens without a lot of distracting collateral action.

Black Ops players: If the controls feels very familiar, it’s because they are, whether intentionally or not, quite similar to what you’re used to.

Buttons and sticks are not only easy to use, but there’s also an actual paper manual inside the disc box. Not terribly environmentally friendly, but far more-useful in the heat of the game when you want to know how to alt-fire than having to stop the action, go to the main menu and look up “alt-fire” in your digital manual.

I wasn’t particularly interested in learning more about the alternate historical timeline in this game, but if you are, look around for and pick up journals that are scattered throughout the campaign that offer what Sony describes as “haunting backstories.”

Gameplay, itself, is riveting. Not since the days of Command & Conquer have I been so reluctant to put down my controller. Getting killed just made me more-determined to find a new strategy or test out a new theory to complete a campaign. Bullets and laser beams fly fast and furious, sapping your strength, something you’ll notice via a dipping health meter. If that’s not enough, you’ll see increasing drops and spatters of blood on your heads-up display the more you get hit.

Even when you’re facing over a dozen enemies, you never feel overwhelmed. Enemies don’t blindly charge you or surround you all at once. I don’t know how the artificial intelligence engine is programmed, but it’s done in such a way that you always have a shot at blasting an alien and finding cover before you take on the next one.

There’s no over-the-top explosions or other special effects, and this game never overreaches. It isn’t as intense as Black Ops, which is a bit hindered by its overt reality and violence against other humans. Somewhat subsconsciously, violence in Resistance 3 is mitigated by the fact that your enemies are aliens from another planet. At the same time, Resistance 3, with its Earth setting, keeps one foot firmly in reality. And aliens in the game are often humanoid in appearance, as opposed to the blobby aliens of Halo and other first-person shooters like Duke Nukem.

Weapons are probably the coolest part of this game. Each one has a primary function and a secondary detonation function. The auger is back, letting you plow holes in walls, but when you use the alt-fire secondary detonation, your bullets exit on the other side even faster and stronger than when they entered. There’s also the Magnum and Bullseye, the Marksman and Carbine. New to the game is a bio-mist gun that lets you infect the enemy and a homemade shrapnel grenade that sprays metal nails, along with the EMP grenade. As the game proceeds, you can upgrade your weapons, making them stronger.

Unlike the Rockstar games, there’s no free play in Resistance 3. You can’t embark on your own storyline or frag your friends for fun. One slight disappointment was the animation. The voices and sound-effects of this game are dead-on. But the characters are kind of creepy, empty-eyed shells in a Polar Express kind of way. Everyone’s teeth seems to be grey for some reason. Characters don’t look or move realistically in animated sequences, though they look and act just fine when you’re fighting in a campaign or deathmatch.

There are several multiplayer modes, including the deathmatches you expect in a game like this. You can work with someone else in cooperative mode, whether they’re in the same room or online. Up to 16 players can engage in multiplayer matches.

Resistance 3 supports the PlayStation Move, but I wasn’t that impressed with it. You need the precision of the stick controller to be really effective. There’s also 3D support, but I don’t have a 3D television. The game includes an online pass activation code for the PlayStation Network, giving you free and unlimited access to online and multiplayer games.

The suggested retail price for Resistance 3 is $59.99, and it’s worth every penny. Resistance 3 is definitely one of the most-engaging shooters you’ll play in 2011.